Constitutional Law

For The Kids

Public Nudists Have 15 Days Left of Grossing People Out

We know there's gotta be some parents out there counting down the days from their kitchen calendar where they can safely take the kids on a family stroll to Dolores Park without fear of running into those freely flapping dicks. On Feb. 1, the new law banning most public nudity begins, which means ... More >>

Proposition 8: U.S. Supreme Court Will Hear Appeal on Gay Marriage (Update)

Update 2:10 p.m.: City Supervisors respond to U.S. Supreme Court decision on Prop. 8. Read at the bottom Original story 12:29 p.m.: The U.S. Supreme Court just announced that it will review the federal constitutional challenge to Proposition 8, California's ban on gay marriage, as well as the Def ... More >>

Ross Mirkarimi Gets Prisoners to Vote

We got a little glimpse of what Sheriff Ross Mirkarimi has been doing now that he's back on the job: registering inmates to vote. And why shouldn't he want this, considering it was San Francisco prisoners who vociferously backed the embattled sheriff during his domestic violence drama that nearly co ... More >>

Facebook: Should 'Like' Button Be Protected as Free Speech?

We've all seen the Facebook profiles supporting political candidates, the pages for protest, and the mass events that have been organized through this giant social network. Facebook has certainly made its mark on the political scene. Now, the Bay Area-based company wants a constitutional voice.Faceb ... More >>

Civil Wrongs Revisited

Proposition 8 Is Unconstitutional, Appeals Court Says

​A federal appeals court ruled this morning that California's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional.  New outlets are reporting that the ban will still remain in effect as the case makes its way to the Supreme Court. Both sides had vowed to appeal the ruling if the outcome wasn't in th ... More >>

That’s Radical

This Is Your City: Housing Authority Bans San Franciscans from Public Housing

Circumcision Ban Is Unconstitutional and Anti-Semitic, City Attorney Says

Now things are really becoming uncomfortable ​City Attorney Dennis Herrera has weighed in on San Francisco's proposed circumcision ban issue, saying that, among other things, it's patently unconstitutional and should be removed from the November ballot. In a brief  filed Thursday afternoon, H ... More >>

Oscar Grant Supporters Petition Department of Justice to Investigate BART

The fight continues​More than 500 people have signed a petition urging the United States Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division to speed up its investigation of Oscar Grant's death at the Fruitvale BART station in 2009. Last year, before ex-BART cop Johannes Mehserle was convicted of involu ... More >>

Circumcision Ban Challenged: Religious Leaders File Lawsuit Today

Taylor FriedmanNo, this isn't a bris ceremony ​Update 1:25 p.m.: Jewish and Muslim plaintiffs file lawsuit challenging San Francisco's circumcision ban. Read more after the jump.We knew this was coming -- it was just a matter of time. The Jewish community has united with other religious groups to ... More >>

The Feds Bury Border Patrol Abuses of Immigrants, But What's Been Unearthed Reveals a Culture of Cruelty

Human Rights Campaign To Move Into Harvey Milk's Camera Store

Harvey Milk has been enlisted by the HRC​In what some grassroots gay activists are calling an "insult," the Human Rights Campaign is about to move into the location of Harvey Milk's old camera store at 575 Castro Street. It will be the new San Francisco "action center" providing information on the ... More >>

San Francisco Circumcision Ban Unconstitutional, Professor Says

Perform a brit milah, go to jail? ​San Francisco can have its proposed circumcision ban, or it can have the First Amendment. But it can't have both. That's the opinion of Peter Keane, dean emeritus at Golden Gate University School of Law and a constitutional law professor. The potential ballot mea ... More >>

Wronging the Rights

Do You Have First Amendment Rights in San Francisco Parks or Not?

Now valid in National Parks! Right?​Jurisdictional lines are funny things. Here in San Francisco you can hoist your banners and beat your drum to express the message of your choosing per your First Amendment Rights -- until you tread onto Ocean Beach, the Presidio, or other federal land. The Natio ... More >>

'Secure Communities' Deporting Low-Level Criminals and Innocents, Opponents Say

Jaywalking? That'll get you deported, hombre​The majority of illegal immigrants deported by a controversial federal program known as Secure Communities are not the "high threat" criminal immigrants the Feds claimed the program would ensnare, according to statistics released today by civil rights o ... More >>

Judge Vaughn Walker Targeted for Impeachment

Judge Vaugn Walker is not universally popular these days​ In an effort to undermine his Prop. 8 ruling, the American Family Association is leading a campaign to impeach Judge Vaughn Walker. The right-leaning pro-family organization states in a letter on its website that Walker should not have been ... More >>

Jurist, Teabagger, Porn King: The Ravings of Conservative Nutjobs Against Vaughn Walker

Photo illustration | Audrey FukumanRight-wing loons likened Judge Vaughn Walker to a porn impresario​U.S. District Court Judge Vaughn Walker's decision overturning Proposition 8 is, by the reckoning of most sensible observers, a masterpiece of judicial prose and reasoning. As such, it has been ... More >>

SF Weekly Letters

School That Deemed American Flag Clothing 'Incendiary' on Shaky Legal Ground

Higher-ups at Live Oak High School may be caught with their pants down, legally​Administrators at Morgan Hill's Live Oak High School who opted to send home students bedecked in American flag regalia on Cinco de Mayo likely ran afoul of the law, one of the nation's foremost constitutional scholars ... More >>

The Good Music of the Bad Old Days

Chronic City: Court Says Patients Can Collectively Grow Medical Marijuana

photobucket.comOfficer, release that plantSome rural sheriff's departments still haven't really come to terms with the fact that medical marijuana is now legal in California, despite having had since 1996 to adjust to the concept. But in a landmark ruling, an appellate court today protected the righ ... More >>

Prop 8 Advocates: Grandfathering Gay Marriages Akin to Letting Landowners Keep Slaves After Abolition

One problematic book.Press releases gloating over today's California Supreme Court 6-1 decision upholding the constitutionality of Prop 8 (and lamenting the grandfathering in of marriages already performed) have poured from Prop 8 proponents into the inboxes of the media. ... More >>

Will Gay Marriage Have to Wait for Democracy to Catch Up?

History's Answer: Yes By Peter Jamison Since Californians voted to enshrine discrimination against gay couples in their state constitution on Nov. 4, the varied strains of lamentation from San Francisco's chattering classes have risen to a choral swell. The success of Proposition 8, which banned s ... More >>

Obama Supports 'Separate But Equal' Principle For Gays

Oh, the irony of it all: When it comes to his views on same-sex marriage, the first black man elected president in the U.S. uses the same principle employed in the past by whites to justify segregation in this country. Barack Obama opposes gay marriage, but he supports civil unions. Separate but ... More >>

Top 10 Protest Signs at No on 8 March

Last Night: Milk Premiere at the Castro Theater

You Shall Be Moved

SF's Homelessness, Gangs, and Needles: A Schizo Summer

Boycott Feinstein

A new proposed law would put activists in jail for hurting a company's bottom line

I Wish I'd Written That

Deceased journalist Joe Dignan led coverage of California's movement toward gay equal rights

Of Asterisks and Small Pols

When the city government tries to play satire police with the press, everyone with a sense of humor -- and a belief in the Constitution -- should be concerned

Profiles in Gumption

Thanks to SFMOMA, Mattel wasn't able to squash a Utah artist who puts Barbie dolls in blenders

The Noble Crusades

Behind the civil rights clash

Letters to the Editor

Week of July 2, 2003

Letters to the Editor

Week of June 11, 2003

Big Doctor Is Watching

As of April 14, the national security police can monitor your medical records without your knowledge. So can the local police.

Cats and Dogs

A video project with canine penetration and feline skinning brings on self-censorship at the S.F. Art Institute

Letters to the Editor

Letters from February 28, 2001

Events Listings

Pride 2000 Events

Events Listings

Pride 2000 Events

Spy vs Spite

The Clinton administration has praised the Anti-Defamation League for helping shield kids from Internet hate. But should a group that spied on thousands of Californians be allowed to police the Web?

A King's Legacy

Martin Luther King Jr. Day

Shaky Ground

Environmental activists adopt a new strategy -- playing the race card

Beautiful Dreamers

John and Tom Henning hope to beat Sen. William "Pete" Knight at his own game, with a ballot initiative to legalize gay marriage in California

Beautiful Dreamers

The anti-Knight initiative

The Fire Next Time

As a civil rights advocate, Bob Demmons called in the federal government to end racism in the Fire Department. Now that he's chief, he has to remove federal control and prove that firefighters can manage race relations on their own.

Cyperpornocopia

Milpitas residents Carleen and Robert Thomas found a lucrative way to sell the hardest of hardcorepornography to smut fans all over the country: by computer bulletin board. Then their little Silicon Valley startup attracted the interest of a U.S. Postal S